Caleb
Nathan Fillion as Caleb
First appearance Dirty Girls Last appearance Chosen Created by Joss Whedon
Statistics Name Caleb Status Deceased Species Human Affiliation The First Evil Notable powers As the First's "vessel", Caleb is the only human being capable of merging with the First. Merging with the First grants him temporary supernatural strength and stamina. This process also mutates his blood into a thick, black substance. Portrayed by  Nathan Fillion

Caleb (played by Nathan Fillion) is a fictional character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe created by Joss Whedon. (Fillion is one of three actors who had appeared on Whedon's Firefly series who later played a villain on one of Whedon's other shows.) Nathan Fillion as Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly Nathan Fillion (born March 27, 1971 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian actor. ... Dirty Girls is the 18th episode of season 7 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Chosen is the 22nd episode of the 7th and final season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the series finale. ... The First Evil is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Nathan Fillion as Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly Nathan Fillion (born March 27, 1971 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian actor. ... A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a U.S. television series loosely based on the 1992 movie of the same name. ... Joss Whedon Joss Hill Whedon (born June 23, 1964) is a writer, director, executive producer, and creator of several television series, most famously Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. ... Firefly is a science fiction television series that premiered on television in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ...

Caleb is an arrogant, misogynistic defrocked priest who is allied with The First Evil and serves as one of the "big bads" of Season 7. Prior to becoming a servant of the First Evil, Caleb was a serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least two girls, which he lured sometimes with his sermons and certainly with his priest collar. Among his victims was a showgirl at Nashville and a girl named Betty, who was attracted by Caleb's words. The Whedonverse is a name for the fictional universe which includes most of the collected works of Joss Whedon, including: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer Angel: the Series Fray Tales of the Vampires and other comics The Whedonverse is also known as the Buffyverse or the Slayerverse. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a U.S. television series loosely based on the 1992 movie of the same name. ... Angel was the highly successful spin-off from the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... The cover Fray #1 Fray is an eight-issue comic book miniseries about Melaka Fray, a Slayer in the future, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon and drawn by Karl Moline (pencils) and Andy Owens (inks). ... Misogyny ( mĭ-sŏj ə-nē ) is hatred of or strong prejudice against women. ... Roman Catholic priest LCDR Allen R. Kuss (USN) aboard USS Enterprise A priest or priestess is a holy man or woman who takes an officiating role in worship of any religion, with the distinguishing characteristic of offering sacrifices. ... The First Evil is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ...

He tries to help The First Evil destroy the Slayer lineage by killing the Potentials one by one. He is given extraordinary strength by the First when they "merge". According to the First, Caleb is the only human strong enough to be its vessel. A Slayer in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fictional universe is a young girl bestowed with mystical powers that originate from the heart of a demon. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu† Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... Vessel can refer to any of the following: Objects Vessel (French vaissel, from a rare Latin vascellum, diminuitive of vas, vase, or urn), a word of somewhat wide application for many objects, the meaning common to them being capacity to hold or contain something. ...

Caleb likes to reenact his killings by asking the First to take on the form of the girls he killed, so that he may "kill them again".

Caleb was the one that organized the attack of the Bringers on the Potential Slayers around the world and the man responsible for setting up the bomb that destroyed the Watcher's Council Headquarters in London and caused the deaths of Quentin Travers, and all Watchers and Council Operatives present. He also may have been the one that hired a convict to kill Faith prior to her escape from prison, as both Caleb and Faith arrive through the same road. In fact, Caleb knew Faith and Willow were behind him, as he left a severely injured Shannon on the road as an annoucement of his arrival. Potential slayers are fictional characters created by Joss Whedon for the cult television programs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. ... In the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Watchers Council is a fictional governing organization for Watchers of vampire Slayers such as Buffy. ... Harris Yulin as Quentin Travers. ... Faith Lehane (born December 14, 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. ...

In "Dirty Girls", Caleb murders potential slayers Dianne, whose neck is snapped, and Molly, who Caleb stabs in the stomach, before violently blinding Xander in one eye by forcing his thumb into Xander's left eye-socket, during an aborted initial attack on Caleb's vineyard. Dirty Girls is the 18th episode of season 7 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Alexander Xander LaVelle Harris (born 1981 in Sunnydale, California) is a fictional character in the cult television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... The thumbs up gesture is a sign of approval in many cultures, and an obscene gesture in many others. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A vineyard Vineyard with bird netting Wine grapes with netting as protection against birds A vineyard (vignoble in French, vigna or vigneto in Italian, vinha in Portuguese, viña or viñedo in Spanish, Weinberg in German) is a place where grapes are grown for making wine, raisins, or table...

Despite a dramatic arrival in Sunnydale when he bested Buffy and her army of potential slayers on several occasions, he is eventually killed at Buffy's hands by being sliced in two with a scythe from the crotch up. Sunnydale, California is the fictional suburban setting for the popular television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Using a scythe A scythe (sounds like SIGH-th) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing and reaping grass or crops. ...

Caleb is a less complex character than the other villains in the series such as the mayor Richard Wilkins or even The Master. Many fans and critics have openly speculated that the sole purpose of Caleb's relatively late addition to the storyline was to provide a job for Nathan Fillion, whose other collaboration with Joss Whedon, Firefly, had recently been cancelled). In truth, Caleb served a narrative purpose as well, providing Buffy and her allies with a villain who was both a physical threat (in contrast to the non-corporeal First Evil) and a recognizable individual (as opposed to the nameless Bringers and Turok-Han, who were formidable but also more or less interchangable). Especially striking in this role as a strictly utilitarian character (essentially a deux ex machina) is Caleb's relative lack of humor and wit compared to other villains from the series. However, Caleb's mixture of superior physical strength and pure sadism makes him one of the most disturbing and deranged threats the Slayer has come across. His particularly gruesome attack on Xander was widely criticized by fans as a cheap way of lending credibility to a last-minute villain. For the Australian television/entertainment personality, see Richard Wilkins (TV presenter). ... The Master is a fictional character in the U.S. television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Mark Metcalf. ... Firefly is a science fiction television series that premiered on television in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. ... Deus ex machina is Latin for god from the machine and is a calque from the Greek από μηχανής θεός, (pronounced apo mekhanes theos). It originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation. ...

A few Catholic groups have claimed that Caleb comes across as an attack on their faith. However, it is made fairly clear early on that Caleb is no longer a priest, having been stripped of his duties sometime before this (presumably as a punishment). He could be a reworking of a similar (but non-supernatural) character played by Robert Mitchum in the film The Night of the Hunter, although Caleb's mockery of religious faith could be seen as an example of season seven's "back to the beginning" theme, since the Master, Buffy's first major villain, also openly perverted Catholicism. Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an accomplished American film actor and singer. ... The Night of the Hunter is a 1953 novel by American author, Davis Grubb. ... This article considers Catholicism in the broadest ecclesiastical sense. ...

See also

• List of Buffyverse Villains and Supernatural Beings